Nikkilooch

The best way to NOT start your weekend day trip to  Trier is by having a screaming fight with your husband.

Trust me on this one.

But after a 2 hour train ride with 2 great friends, you’ll start to calm down.

Then you’ll see the oldest most intact Roman ruins north of the Alps and beautiful churches and ancient amphitheaters and what you fought about will become insignificant.

That combined with the fact that the temperature got warm enough to take your coat off for the first time since moving to Germany will make it turn out to be a pretty great day actually.

Stopping by this one last church before hopping on the train home was a great decision.

Because otherwise, I would have missed out on this.

Yesterday I went to London.  Today I’m home.  It was a good trip, no, great trip.

Tea was drank.  Books were bought.  Football watched.  Friends seen.

It’s not even the weekend.  Love, love, love my life.  So blessed.

Last Saturday, we went to Milan to watch a football match with our good friend. (Of course, why else?)

I don’t think we’ve ever been to Milan without visiting the San Siro.

We did leave without a new scarf for, I think, the first time.

A place I do try to visit every time we’re in Milan is Luini Luini.

See the Italian cops up there hard at work? It’s a universal truth.

Luini’s sells panzerotti. They are a sweet kind of fried dough stuffed with savory fillings.

Oh, Lordy. Deep fried heaven.

This time, I went with mozzarella, tomato, and pesto. I do not regret it.

If you are ever in Milan, Luini’s is a MUST eat.

This weekend we drove from Kaiserslautern to Italy.  About 8 hours.  SO long by European standards, so average by American standards.  The United States is a big country, folks.  According to the Google, 31 Italy’s could fit into 1 US.  If I’m being honest, I thought it’d be more.

Recipe for an Italian Easter:

Always, always start with wine. Always.  Add in some soppressa and pickled asparagus with a side of buttered crostini topped with salmon and a caper and you have yourself a great start to Easter dinner.

Next sautee some pumpkin and onion together in olive oil. Heat up your broth. Toast your risotto. Take turns with all your guests stirring.

Then the secret: once all the broth is incorporated in the rice, add a large pat of butter and a mountain of cheese, cover and let sit. This really makes the risotto over the top.

Finally, open another bottle of wine. Get scolded for eating too much before dinner. Spread the table cloth out and set the table. Make everyone wait while you take pictures in your slipper feet. Then eat until your buttons pop.

Easter success.

I had never heard about Laduree until I started researching what to eat in Paris.  This pastry shop kept popping up again and again.  Apparently it’s world famous?  It has even graced the sliver screen of Gossip Girl.  A show I’ve never seen.  I’m not sure about why these macaroons were on the show but I do know why they are world famous.  Delicate and delicious.  I didn’t buy a whole box because I didn’t want to take out collateral on my husband, but I did get 5 different flavors: milk chocolate, pistachio, coffee, rose petal and orange blossom.

Before the match we needed some fuel to help keep us warm and get us to dinner.  A crepe stand next to the metro entrance offered crepes with egg, chicken, cheese and mushrooms.  Yes, please!  Hot, filling, crispy and mobile. Perfect.

The morning we left it was snowing. My response was, “It’s snowing! How magical and romantic.” My husband’s response was more along the lines of, “It had to be f-ing snowing when we’re trying to leave.” After pulling my wheely suitcase along behind me in the snow for a few meters I tended to agree with his school of thought. It’s amazing how a warm croissant and a hot cafe can change your outlook back to magical and romantic.

I’ve been a follower David Lebovitz’s blog for a long time.  In researching the eating portion of our weekend trip my first stop was David’s My Paris section of his blog.

Le Trumilou hit all the criterion I had set for a restaurant for this trip:

1. Near the sights we wanted to see.
2. Classic french bistro.
3. No pretense.
4. Delicious.
5. Reasonably priced.
6. Open 7 days a week.

I chose the fixed menu, which is very common in Europe.  What it basically means is that for a set price (20 euro in my case) you can choose 3 courses from a menu with 3 choices for each course.  In general, these menus are the best choice for fresh good food.  They are constantly changing depending on what the restaurant has.

I started with artichoke. It was cold, which threw me for a loop at first since I’ve never had a whole artichoke served cold before. But it didn’t detract from its artichokey goodness. Plus they served it with a tangy mayonnaise based dipping sauce that made my initial surprise melt away quickly.

Next came beef bourguignon. I ordered this dish for 2 reasons: I could read and understand it from the french menu and I was freezing cold in desperate need of warming up. The beef was fork tender and the broth not too salty. Everything I look for in a dish like this.

Finally, I finished with cafe. While I like a lot of things about Germany, I haven’t been able to find a good cup of coffee since I moved here 2 weeks ago. Le Trumilou answered a question I didn’t know I was even asking with this espresso. Superb.

We ended with a very happy table.

This past weekend, my love and I took the fast train to Paris. A mere 2 hours and 25 minutes after a late boarding we arrived in a freezing city. 30 degrees Fahrenheit and -1 Celsius. The Parisians were bundled tighter than anyone I’ve seen in Kaiserslautern even though it was 11 degrees Celsius colder in K-town.

On game day we put first things first and headed to the pub. Even though we already had on long johns under our jeans, we still brought a bag of extra clothes to change into before heading to the Stade de France.

In the surprisingly clean bathroom I put on another long sleeve shirt under my sweater, added a thick pair of wool socks over the thin wool ones I already had on, and tied an extra scarf around my neck. In my purse I had wool gloves to wear inside cotton mittens. As soon as I worked my way out of the tiny bathroom stall I started sweating. Good sign.

We were the only Italy supporters in our whole section.  The Azzurri made a valiant start and played well the whole game.  We looked like a completely different team.  Even though we lost (30-12), I can’t wait to watch us smash England in the ground this weekend in Rome.

Dai ragazzi.

As soon as we landed in Germany and got our bags sorted, we headed straight to the restaurants.

White sausage and a pretzel with sweet mustard for me.
Sausage and french fries for him.

Germany, I think it’s gonna be love.

image from sugartraincrane808

3 books downloaded for the flight

19 podcasts I’ve been saving for the flight

1 suitcase bought in the last 48 hours

2 Luna bars packed

5 different notebooks/journals

4 bags to be checked

3 carryons

13ish hours we’ll be traveling total

2 very excited people

as many as I can get prayers

The hubs and I drove up to New Jersey this weekend to see some of our favorite people in Cherry Hill and to go to the Ward vs. Froch fight in Atlantic City.

USA versus England.

Undefeated vs trash-talker.

It was. Fearless.

Both men fought hard every round, until the end.  Ward was quicker.  Froch had 4 inch reach advantage.  Wham. Froch can take a punch.  He proved it Saturday night by taking so many of Ward’s.  Granite chin.

At the end, we waited around to hear the official decision.  The English bloke in front of us said it best, “Why are we putting ourselves through this torture?  If Froch won even one round we know it was fixed.”

Way to go, Ward.  Undefeated since 1996.